Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#1

Post by fantalamera » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

Sorry in advance, but it's my turn for HN big tech support.

Our Meta/Facebook Business Manager account was hacked July 12, despite having 2FA. The hackers got away with spending $800k on scam ads and got our business manager & all ad accounts blocked.

We’re an adtech business and are losing tens of thousands in revenue per day until our ad accounts are re-instated. We have several open tickets with Meta/Facebook but not getting in contact with anyone who seems to be able to help. Almost 2 weeks later and still no update.

Anyone at Meta/FB that can help or point us in the right direction?

Thanks in advance

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#2

Post by ilamont » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

You don't have an account manager? You can't freeze the payment method?

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#3

Post by LonisHamaili » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

Sad to hear

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#4

Post by nathanaldensr » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:43 PM UTC

Time to call a lawyer.

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#5

Post by mcraiha » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

Did they bypass/disable 2FA or did they get the code somehow?

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#6

Post by steve-222 » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

How was your 2FA method compromised? Until you're able to fix that, re-instating your account might mean another round of hundreds of thousands of dollars in scam ads on your behalf.

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#7

Post by yieldcrv » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 5:43 PM UTC

Was your 2FA just coming as a text message to your phone?

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#8

Post by radiojasper » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 6:53 PM UTC

Ah yeah the good ol "we're losing tens of thousands a day". If you really make such money, you also should be able to afford a legal department.

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#9

Post by Volker_W » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

> We’re an adtech business

Get fucked.

Re: Ask HN: Facebook Business Manager hacked and now locked out of accounts

#10

Post by fantalamera » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #2

You don't have an account manager? You can't freeze the payment method?

We have spoken with several account managers, but they’ve ”forwarded the ticket to another team and can’t do anything more”

The hackers are currently thrown out, so we’re not losing tens of thousands in revenue daily because they are spending it, but rather because the account is blocked we can’t run campaigns on behalf of our customers.